NYCAASC 2018: Emergence Workshops

Curatorial Research and Process

GC 265, 11:45 - 1:10

A case-study examining the exhibition FOLD: Golden Venture Paper Sculptures organized by the Museum of Chinese in America. The popular perception is that history museums are only concerned with the past, but how can a history museum make historical materials relevant today, and what are the limits of interpreting artwork when used to discuss present day societal issues? Andrew Rebatta, Assistant Curator, will present on curatorial dilemmas and strategies employed during the exhibition development process behind FOLD, which featured artwork created by asylum-seekers from China while they were unjustly detained in York County Prison during the mid-1990s.

Andrew Rebatta

Andrew has worked on exhibitions at community-based museums in New York, Chicago and Washington, DC. He is the Assistant Curator at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), and recently curated FOLD: Golden Venture Paper Sculptures, which featured artwork created by detained Chinese asylum-seekers. Andrew was on the curatorial team for Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Spicy: Stories of Chinese Food and Identity in America as well as the current exhibition Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People and Practices. Prior to MOCA, Andrew worked for the Smithsonian Latino Center, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, and the National Museum of Mexican Art. In 2011, he was Curator-in-Residence at the Museo Experimental El Eco in Mexico City, and in 2013 and 2014, he organized exhibitions and performances for the New Forms Media Society in Vancouver, BC.